The pavilion is located to the eastern foreshore area which was once almost entirely covered with large factories and workshops.
This open area, now devoid of buildings, is covered with the traces of these removed buildings. Our proposed design seeks to fit in with these traces and become another layer of the island's history. Its verticality provides a link between the lower island and upper plateau, as well as a visual connection to the factories to the southeast corner of the island (which are also existing exhibition areas).
The pavilion is sited in front of the cliff on a a visual and pedestrian axis from the ferry wharf and main entry buildings. Acting as a node along this axis, the pavilion allows the viewer to sit and wait on the grass, enter the pavilion, or move through to the tunnel or the other factory spaces beyond. The lawn area and fig tree introduced to the area provides a much needed shaded area to soften the site and make it a little more habitable in the same way as the northern side of the island has been, without detracting from its existing character.
Drawing on the idea of 'Wunderkammer' or a 'Cabinet of Curiosities' which is part of the manifesto of the 2010 Biennale, our pavilion aims to be a 'container of ideas' drawing on the form of the shipping container as a reference to the site's nautical past and as a symbol of distance, trade and the movement of people, technology, commodities and ideas around the world.
To illustrate our concept, we created our own 'Wunderkammer' containing our central ideas built as three dimensional models.
Site Transcript - the pavilion location in relation to entry sequence from the ferry wharf and buildings. Tree and lawn acting as an area for waiting, meeting and contemplation at junction between axes of movement to camp area, tunnel or other factory buildings.
Open Sequence - the creation of a pavilion that has the ability to expand and reduce the display area for future Biennales through the addition of 'containers' in limitless configurations. As its most basic configuration, the pavilion is a series of structural supports and structures, or 'traces', that appears to be another post-industrial curiosity on the island.
Rather than creating a space in which the artwork is only displayed on walls, we have designed our spaces where the work of artist Lily Kelly Napangardi is integrated into the containers themselves. Her paintings, which have references to sand hills and water, could be created as perforated metals screens which act as walls, ceilings or however the artist proposes for the Biennale. They screens can be viewed backlit from afar as an entire composition or can be viewed up close from inside as 'peepholes' out to the island.
Located in the garden of the late Baroque Palazzo Zenobio by architect Antonio Gaspari, Callum Morton's 'Valhalla' is a 3/4 scale replica of the suburban family home designed by his father, an architect whom he is cited as not reaching his full potential, as a bombed-out ruin. The pavilion was created in Australia from materials such as wood, polystyrene and epoxy, flat packed and then re-erected in Venice. The original home, although out of place amongst the surrounding homes with its Brutalist exterior, is full of fond memories of growing up with his family. Morton describes that although the exterior was oppressive, the interior was warm and light-filled. It seems the choice of sites is intentional, as the Palazzo, despite its monumental facade, houses lavish rooms, a mirrored ball room and gardens within the U-shaped building.
The image of the ruinous building seems to stem from numerous sources. Firstly, the artist recalls visiting the home recently only to discover that, after being sold and renovated, had eventually been demolished. Secondly, Morton suggests that it came to him after seeing images of destroyed buildings in war torn Afghanistan and it could be said that it explores the idea that the selective destruction of buildings is a twentieth century development as a means to divide, conquer and terrorize an enemy. Critic Herbert Muschamp states that 'exploding buildings are replacing landmarks' post September 11th. Morton seems to be playing on the building that existed, its memory and the contradiction to what exists now. 
The images represent the current and past functions of different areas of the island whilst also alluding to the material qualities of these areas - industrial to east and south (grey - steel, glass, concrete), parkland and recreation to the north (green - grass) and historically habitation/incarceration to the plateau (brown - sandstone, timber, glass) . 
The model expresses the disconnection between the upper and lower levels of the island at the eastern end created by the cliff face and the large open area resulting from the removal of the industrial buildings to this area despite potential for a dramatic sense of arrival and approach from the ferry wharf and main entry.
